DETROIT – Pavel Datsyuk tried to play through the pain in his inflamed left knee, hoping rest and treatment would allow him to gut it out for the rest of the season.

But he just wasn’t the same. So the Detroit Red Wings decided on Wednesday to shut him down for at least three weeks in hopes that he’ll be ready to play late in the regular season and, if all goes well, the playoffs.

General manager Ken Holland said Datsyuk will receive more aggressive treatment and continue to rest. Surgery isn’t planned for now but it might be an option in the off-season.

“In January he didn’t play hockey but worked real hard off the ice thinking he was a day away, a day away,” Holland said. “We’re going to back way off the off-ice (workouts). They’re going to do some treatments over the next few days. We’re going to see where we’re at in three weeks.”

Holland said there is no guarantee Datsyuk will return this season.

Holland said center Darren Helm will miss at least the next two games due to headaches. He is going through the NHL’s concussion protocol.

“He’s been having the odd headache this week and then last night,” Holland said. “He went to see the doctor today, haven’t got a report on him. We’re anticipating he’s probably out a few days and we’ll see how things go.”

Center Stephen Weiss (hernia surgery) also won’t play for at least the next two games.

“We were hoping to have Stephen Weiss back a week ago,” Holland said. “He’s had some pain the last couple of days so we’ve shut him down for a couple of days.”

Datsyuk played two games with the Red Wings before the Olympic and two games after the Olympics. He wasn’t close to being the same dominant player.

“He doesn’t have the speed, he doesn’t have the quickness to beat people and jump around and do the things he wants to do,” Holland said. “We’re going to readdress this in three weeks. It doesn’t mean Pav will be back. We’re hoping in 3-4 weeks Pav is out here zipping around and we’re having conversations about when he’s coming back.”

“On Saturday, Mike (coach Babcock) and I met with Pav; Pav was very frustrated at his inability to play the game the way he knows he can and the way he wants to play," Holland said.

“It became pretty obvious to Mike Babcock, (trainer) Piet Van Zant and to myself that all we were going to do is have an athlete that was emotionally burned out. When you can’t do something that you know you can do at a (high) level, it just grinds on you and grinds on you.”

Holland defended Datsyuk’s decision to play in the Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

“It’s easy now to say it probably would have been best if he didn’t play in the Olympics,” Holland said. “Put yourself in somebody else’s shoes. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; he’s named captain of the Russian team. They’ve been looking forward to the Olympics since 2010.

“At the end of the day it’s not for me to decide.”

Holland said the same can be said for Henrik Zetterberg’s decision to play for Sweden. Zetterberg withdrew after one game at the Olympics and had back surgery on Feb. 21, which will idle him for at least the rest of the regular season.

“I’m not going to judge Pav and Z at all, for what they’ve meant to our city, our franchise, our team,” Holland said. “They’re super people, they’re warriors. They play hurt, they play 200 feet, they’re role models, great citizens.

“For me to tell Pavel Datsyuk 'I don’t think you should be representing your country in the Olympics' … that’s a decision they’ve got to make and I respect the decision.”